Documentation Standards¶

In order to help the reader as much as possible and to create code examples that look and feel familiar, you should follow these standards.

Sphinx¶

The following characters are chosen for different heading levels: level 1 is =, level 2 -, level 3 ~, level 4 . and level 5 ";
Each line should break approximately after the first word that crosses the 72nd character (so most lines end up being 72-78 characters);
The :: shorthand is preferred over .. code-block:: php to begin a PHP code block (read the Sphinx documentation to see when you should use the shorthand);
Inline hyperlinks are not used. Separate the link and their target definition, which you add on the bottom of the page;
Inline markup should be closed on the same line as the open-string;

Example¶

Example
=======

When you are working on the docs, you should follow the
`Sylius Documentation`_ standards.

Level 2
-------

A PHP example would be::

    echo 'Hello World';

Level 3
~~~~~~~

.. code-block:: php

    echo 'You cannot use the :: shortcut here';

.. _`Sylius Documentation`: https://docs.sylius.com/en/latest/contributing/documentation/standards.html

Code Examples¶

The code follows the Sylius Coding Standards as well as the Twig Coding Standards;
To avoid horizontal scrolling on code blocks, we prefer to break a line correctly if it crosses the 85th character, which in many IDEs is signalised by a vertical line;
When you fold one or more lines of code, place ... in a comment at the point of the fold. These comments are:

// ... (php),
# ... (yaml/bash),
{# ... #} (twig)
<!-- ... --> (xml/html),
; ... (ini),
... (text)

When you fold a part of a line, e.g. a variable value, put ... (without comment) at the place of the fold;
Description of the folded code: (optional) If you fold several lines: the description of the fold can be placed after the ... If you fold only part of a line: the description can be placed before the line;
If useful to the reader, a PHP code example should start with the namespace declaration;
When referencing classes, be sure to show the use statements at the top of your code block. You don’t need to show all use statements in every example, just show what is actually being used in the code block;
If useful, a codeblock should begin with a comment containing the filename of the file in the code block. Don’t place a blank line after this comment, unless the next line is also a comment;
You should put a $ in front of every bash line.

Formats¶

Configuration examples should show recommended formats using code-block`. The recommended formats (and their orders) are:

Configuration (including services and routing): YAML
Validation: XML
Doctrine Mapping: XML

Example¶

// src/Foo/Bar.php
namespace Foo;

use Acme\Demo\Cat;
// ...

class Bar
{
    // ...

    public function foo($bar)
    {
        // set foo with a value of bar
        $foo = $bar;

        $cat = new Cat($foo);

        // ... check if $bar has the correct value

        return $cat->baz($bar, /*...*/);
    }
}

Caution

In YAML you should put a space after { and before } (e.g. { _controller: ... }), but this should not be done in Twig (e.g. {'hello' : 'value'}).

Language Standards¶

For sections, use the following capitalization rules: Capitalization of the first word, and all other words, except for closed-class words:

The Vitamins are in my Fresh California Raisins
Please use appropriate, informative, rather formal language;
Do not place any kind of advertisements in the documentation;
The documentation should be neutral, without judgements, opinions. Make sure you do not favor anyone, our community is great as a whole, there is no need to point who is better than the rest of us;
You should use a form of you instead of we (i.e. avoid the first person point of view: use the second instead);
When referencing a hypothetical person, such as “a user with a session cookie”, gender-neutral pronouns (they/their/them) should be used. For example, instead of:
- he or she, use they
- him or her, use them
- his or her, use their
- his or hers, use theirs
- himself or herself, use themselves